Yesterday afternoon rating agency Standard & Poors (S&P) took a major step of downgrading the debt of several countries in the eurozone.

Standard & Poors Rating Agency downgraded the credit ratings of nine of the 17 European countries that use the euro currency, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status.

Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all retained their AAA status, while the ratings of Portugal and Cyprus were cut to junk.

“Todays rating actions are primarily driven by our assessment that the policy initiatives that have been taken by European policymakers in recent weeks may be insufficient to fully address ongoing systemic stresses in the eurozone.” the U.S.-based ratings agency said in a statement.

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S&P cut the ratings of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus by two notches and cut rating of France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by one notch each.

Please fiind below Details of S&P – 13th january 2012 Rating Cuts :

Italy’s Rating has been cut from A to BBB+
Spain’s Rating has been cut from AA- to A
Portugal’s Rating has been cut from BBB- to BB
Cyprus Rating has been cut from BBB to BB+

France’s Rating has been cut from AAA to AA+
Austria’s Rating has been cut from AAA to AA+
Malta’s Rating has been cut from A to A-
Slovakia’s Rating has been cut from A+ to A
Slovenia’s Rating has been cut from AA- to A+

Note : Ratings from AAA to BBB- are considered to be Investment Grade and Ratings between BB+ to C are considered to be junk. Rating D stands for Default.

The rating agency also put 14 euro-zone states on negative outlook for a possible further downgrade, which include France, Austria, and still triple-A-rated Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Germany was the only country to emerge totally unscathed with its triple-A rating and a stable outlook.

This is the first time since 1975 that Europe’s second-biggest economy, France has been downgraded to AA+ for the first time since 1975.

After this rating downgrade, the euro fell by more than a cent to $1.2650. European stocks, which had been up for the day, turned negative, but reaction to the widely anticipated news was moderate.